Winter Gritting FAQ's

Q. Why are all the roads not salted?

A. It is not possible for the Council to salt all roads in the County due to funding and manpower constraints.

Q. How much of the road network is salted?A. A quarter (26%) of all the roads in the county are salted and these roads carry almost three quarters (70%) of all traffic. On each call out 408km of roads are salted.

Q. What roads are selected for Salting?A. The roads carrying the most traffic are salted. All national and regional roads in the County are salted and some local roads with high traffic volumes.

Q. Can my road or the road to the school be gritted?A. We appreciate the genuine concerns you raise. However we get numerous such requests and while we would like to accommodate them, it is not possible for the Council to salt all these roads and locations in the County due to funding and manpower constraints. As a result presently there is no capacity to add anymore roads and locations to the existing routes.

Q. My car was hit with grit?A. Grit is not used – only salt. In order to cover the county as efficiently as possible the trucks will travel in one direction and salt both sides of the road at the same time. That is the reason that road users may experience a brief spray of salt as the truck passes. This salt will not damage vehicles or chip paint work.

Q. When are the roads salted?A. A national ice forecasting system with local weather stations based in County Louth predicts when freezing temperatures will occur. The Council will salt the roads in advance of freezing temperatures. The roads are salted twice a night when prolonged freezing conditions occur.

Q. There was no salt coming out of the back of the salter?A. The salter is either on the way to load with salt or is travelling on a section of road already salted by a different truck where different salting routes overlap

Q. There was water coming out of the back of the gritter?A. This is a very high strength brine (salt water) solution that is mixed with the rocksalt and helps the salt stick to the road rather than being blown off the road by passing traffic.

Drive with Caution

Road users are advised to drive with caution on all roads during freezing temperatures whether or not they are salted.